Through free agency or the draft the Lions need to add a little juice to their running game. Of that, there is no question.

Coach Jim Schwartz told reporters at the NFL Combine on Thursday that he wants to see more explosiveness in the run game.

Counting on the return of Jahvid Best was the biggest mistake general manager Martin Mayhew made last off-season and he admitted it.

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Is free agent Reggie Bush the answer? Maybe, but he could be too pricey.

The answer could lie in the draft, but not with the top pick.

NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock sees good possibilities for running backs in the second, third and fourth rounds of the draft which starts April 25.

Most of them will get a chance to prove themselves this weekend at the Combine in Indianapolis.

"If you look at the last five years of the draft, and I'm doing this off the top of my head, so I might not be sure, but I think there were 15 running backs taken in the first round of the last five years,'' Mayock said in a conference call this week. "About half of them, seven or eight of them, have had major injury issues.

"So the first-round running back thing is by no means a bang-the-table, starting, top-line running back,'' he added.

He didn't name names, but the Lions chose Best in the first round (30th overall in 2010) despite his concussion history and his career was nearly over before it started. He played in 22 games but hasn't been cleared for contact since a concussion in October 2011.

Mikel Leshoure was a second-round pick in 2011.

"There have been a bunch of those guys (in the second round). I think you can get them through pretty much through two, three and four,'' Mayock said.

ESPN draftnik Mel Kiper differs on just one running back. He has Oregon's Kenjon Barner in his top five instead of Ellington.

Mayock said he sees Ellington or Barner as a good fit for the Lions to replace Best. There are other options too.

"I just happen to like Montee Ball a lot. When I put the tape on, he's a downhill (runner), tough kid. I think he's got really good feet for a fairly large back,'' Mayock said.

"I think he's going to have to do a better job with pass protection. But at 5-foot-11, 215 (pounds), he should be able to do a better job with pass protection. I think he's shown toughness, balance, vision. He's a one-cut, north-south runner and I think he fits most of the offenses in the NFL. I see him as a late two to an early three,'' he added.

"Now the question is when you get dropped into the third and fourth rounds, what you're really getting is one or the other,'' Mayock said. "You're not getting the three-down back. You're getting the guy that's the third-down, change-of-pace guy, or you're getting that bigger back who really doesn't have to burst in acceleration,'' Mayock said.